Why Fishing With Your Children Can Improve Your Relationship And Teach Valuable Lessons

If I should ask you about your first dining experience, would you remember how it went? What about your first swimming experience? I am sure you will remember how it felt swimming for the first time. Some experiences, especially those of our childhood, will last a lifetime while others will be forgotten.

One activity that tends to last in the minds of our children is fishing. If you live anywhere near a body of water and you have never taken your children fishing, you may be missing out on whole lot more than just “fish”. Fishing together gives you an opportunity to build your relationships and teach valuable life lessons.

Here are some of the reasons why fishing with your children can have a lasting impact on your children.

Lasting Relationship Building And Bonding: Imagine getting a big catch in the presence of your loved ones. The joy and excitement you get is a special thing. On the other hand, the disappointment you may feel when you fail to catch any fish is diminished in the company of your loved ones. Their assurance and support provides you the strength to keep trying. Through that, your children get to learn the importance of supporting those they care about. By engaging in conversations, your children also learn the importance of in-person conversations which helps with conversational skills throughout life.

Off-Screen or Unplug Time: It is undeniable that growing in this era of technology has caused our children to neglect “the outside world”. It seems the majority of adolescents’ time is spent with their eyes fixated on a screen. A fishing trip with your children, especially with teenagers, will help them unplug and unwind from their devices. Getting away from excess technology will allow them to become more aware of their natural surroundings and hopefully grow to appreciate the outdoors.

Great Time For “Real Talk”: As a parent it is difficult to know when it is best to address a touchy subject with your children. Fishing with your children provides an excellent opportunity to deal with these obstacles. Having a one-on-one conversation in a secluded, quiet place in nature will alleviate the stressful nature of these situations significantly. Children are more inclined to be receptive when they are free from their normal distractions.

Teaches Patience: The catch of the day seldom comes seconds after casting your line. Fishing requires patience. You will be teaching your children a valuable lesson that, like getting a big catch, most things in life will take time.

Appreciation For Nature: Unless you are fishing from a barrel, you will probably go outside of your known comfort zone and into yet another place of comfort. However, in this new place of comfort, you get more in tune with nature. The sight of birds chirping or flying in the sky, squirrels chasing each other or climbing up and down trees. Your children will learn to appreciate nature and everything in it and hopefully build in them the desire to preserve nature.

Diligence and Confidence: Another lesson to learn aside from patience is diligence, and subsequently confidence. After getting the patience to wait, one needs to be diligent in reading their environment for opportunities for a better catch. Once there is a strike, it takes diligence to harvest the catch. Finally, the reward of a catch builds confidence that your patience and diligence has paid off.

Problem-solving Skills: Fishing will be a great way to teach your children to solve problems. Solving problems is a skill that does not always come easy. By starting with just a hook and line they come up with a plan to go home with a basket of fish. This will teach your children that if you put your mind to something, you can do it in the real world.

It is obvious that going fishing with your children is beneficial. However, parents will benefit from following these tips to ensure a great fishing experience with their children.

Consider Their Age: Age comes with experience. It is important to assess your child’s interest, excitement and participation levels based on their age. This will tell how difficult the work involved may be. You can find fishing equipment that is suitable for children on Amazon.

Make It Simple: You may be tempted to bore them with history and technical terms. It is advisable to keep things simple. Answer their questions concisely and get things simple and straight to the point as possible.

Be Patient And Kid-Friendly: Be patient if your children are slow to learn. Fishing takes time and effort to learn. It helps to provide slow and clear instructions.

Make It Easy In The Beginning: It may be advisable to start from a place where they can see their reward easily and not a place where they may return home with nothing. This will get them excited and interested.

Make It Short: A new hobby is hard to grasp if the first experience took “forever”. Know when to stop, give them a pat on the back and “call it a day”.

Fishing with your children especially after keeping in mind the above tips is a very rewarding activity with a lot of life lessons to teach. Happy fishing!

I am more complex than it appears. I am a Fox News watching Libertarian conservative that deeply values the idea of capitalism, Laissez Faire economics, and strong military. And on the other hand, my favorite book is Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, and my favorite music is the Grateful Dead. So reconciling, my conservative values with my counterculture roots is interesting . I enjoy taking long walks on Fort Lauderdale Beach with my Goldendoodles, Otis and Brady, when I am not actively working as a bond portfolio manager at Las Olas Wealth Management of Nat Alliance Securities LLC. I am a terrible golfer, who prefers the tennis court any day of the week. I am the lucky father of three teenagers and happily married for over 20 years.

Dean Myerow

I am more complex than it appears. I am a Fox News watching Libertarian conservative that deeply values the idea of capitalism, Laissez Faire economics, and strong military. And on the other hand, my favorite book is Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, and my favorite music is the Grateful Dead. So reconciling, my conservative values with my counterculture roots is interesting . I enjoy taking long walks on Fort Lauderdale Beach with my Goldendoodles, Otis and Brady, when I am not actively working as a bond portfolio manager at Las Olas Wealth Management of Nat Alliance Securities LLC. I am a terrible golfer, who prefers the tennis court any day of the week. I am the lucky father of three teenagers and happily married for over 20 years.